ITC plans 54 Choupal Fresh horticulture stores

NEW DELHI: Diversified conglomerate, ITC on Tuesday said it will expand its fruit and vegetable retail and wholesale business by opening 54 new outlets in select metros in next three years.

"We will set up 54 Choupal Fresh stores in next three years," ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar said here.

The company would target metropolitan cities for these wholesale-cum-retail stores.

ITC has 3-4 Choupal Fresh operating in Hyderabad and Pune. The first one opened in August this year in Hyderabad.

ITC's urban warehousing and cold chain infrastructure focuses on stocking fresh horticulture produce like fresh fruits and vegetables. The company has also set up a complete cold chain for ensuring the availability of fresh products in the market, besides direct linkages with farmers for sourcing farm fresh produce.

The emphasis of the stores is on improving the quality and productivity of domestic horticulture products through ITC good agricultural practices as opposed to relying on importer products.

Moreover, the company plans to increase the number of its rural malls 'Choupal Saagars' by nine in next six months.

'Choupal Saagars' are rural hypermarkets, which provides multiple services under one roof. It creates a platform for the farmers to sell their produce directly and get immediate payment.

Farmers can also buy quality product for their farm and household consumption from 'Choupal Saagars' and have services of soil testing, banking, insurance, medical facilities and restaurants. Currently the company has 11 such rural malls in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The company plans to set up one 'Choupal Saagar' for 40 e-Choupals in synergistic combination to serve as the core infrastructure to support ITC's rural distribution strategy.

E-Choupal, are internet-kiosks, from where the farmers can download information in their local language on weather, market prices and scientific farm practices. They can also facilitate sale of farm inputs and purchase farm produce at these kiosks.

The nine 'Choupal Saagars' are supposed to spread to other e-Choupal states of Haryana, Uttaranchal, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.

Currently, there are 6,500 e-Choupal kiosks in over 38,000 villages in nine states.

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